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About Participant/Observer: An Unconventional Like in Politics and Academia

​​Participant/Observer
An Unconventional Life in Politics and Academia
by Henry Milner
www.participant-observer.com
Some engage in politics; others observe it, but the author of this political memoir is among the few that have had the chance to do both. In these pages, Henry Milner shares his experiences as a student and community activist, an anglophone insider and strategist in the Parti Québécois, and a close observer over several decades of social democracy in practice in Scandinavia and beyond.

Participant/Observer is a political autobiography of a generation, one that reached maturity in the 1960s and 1970s, told through one person’s story. In concluding, Milner holds out hope that this account of his generations’ successes—and failures—can be of use to current generations as they face the threat posed by populist and authoritarian forces. www. Participant-observer.com One of Canada’s leading public intellectuals, Henry Milner recounts his life as a committed thinker and activist. He is a practical idealist in the best sense. This book deserves a wide audience in schools and in the halls of power on how to live a life of value and meaning.
–Derek Shearer, Chevalier Professor of Diplomacy, Occidental College, and former US ambassador to Finland

Henry Milner has been both an actor and a close witness in the evolution of social democratic ideals, ideas and actions in Québec, in Canada and in Sweden. His intellectual contributions over 3 generations have been and still are relevant, expert and experienced. His commitments and advice have also been courageous and wise. His depiction of the evolution of Québec is to the point.
–Pierre Marc Johnson Former Premier of Québec
Henry Milner, a public intellectual and activist whose interests roam from public education, and electoral reform to language legislation and fundamental rights, provides readers with a rich tapestry of life over the past half-century. This is much more than a memoir. Milner’s encounters with political movements and their personalities in many parts of the world makes this a source of precious insights and, perhaps, a cautiously positive perspective on the post-Trump world.
–William Schabas, OC MRIA, Professor of international law Middlesex University; Professor emeritus, Leiden University and National University of Ireland Galway,
A delightful memoir of Sweden and the Scandinavian model as it was conceived and has developed, with the added value and insight brought by the perspective of a dedicated transatlantic observer and friend.
–Anders Mellbourn, former editor in chief of Sweden’s main daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter and director of the Swedish Institute for International Affairs

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